Rostourism’s Head of Press Service Oleg Moseyev told Itar-Tass on Sunday that “now it is most important that the tourist operators, who had sent their clients by Bulgaria Air’s flights, undertook all measures to return the tourists as soon as possible.”

“The tourist operators should remember about their responsibilities,” he said adding that Rostourism “does not rely on settlement of the issue between the carrier /Bulgaria Air/ and the tourist operator /Alma Tour, which owes five million dollars/,” but “the issue of returning the tourists home should be a priority.”

He said that the authority had organised a special commission “to monitor the situation and provide all necessary assistance to the Russian tourists.” Rostourism has sent an official letter to Bulgaria’s ministry of economy, energy and tourism, where it asks for support in transporting Russian tourists.

“According to the latest information we have, 200 Russian tourists remain in Bulgaria: in Burgas’ airport – 120 organised tourists, who have come from St. Petersburg, and in Varna – 80 tourists from St. Petersburg and from Moscow,” he said. “They are fine, all tourists are in hotels, they do not experience problems with food, there is no panic, but still they worry about flying back.”

All tourists are expected to be returned home on Monday, September 12, Moseyev said.

“We hope the aviation company and the tourist operator would settle the issue between themselves, and we would like to address our operators and aviation companies to assist in settlement of the problem with the tourists,” he added.

Flights from Bulgaria’s airports in Burgas and Varna were delayed due to the financial dispute between the aviation company and tourist operator, who still fail to agree on resuming chartered flights. About 900 Russians became hostages to the dispute. The latter group of 260 tourists returned home on Saturday by a flight operated by Bulgaria Air.

Russia’s General Consulate in Varna reported on mid-Sunday about 280 Russian tourists who remain in Bulgaria and who could not return home on September 9 and 10 by Bulgaria Air’s regular flights.